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At the Gramophone Awards 2019, Hong Kong Philharmonic principal viola Andrew Ling (left), principal clarinet Andrew Simon (second from left), chief executive Benedikt Fohr (second from right), and Y.S. Liu, chairman of the board of governors of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Society, receive the Orchestra of the Year Award on behalf of the orchestra. Photo: Hong Kong Philharmonic
LifestyleArts & Culture

HK Phil award, Xiqu Centre opening the bright spots in 2019 for performing arts in Hong Kong, a year of cancellations and collapse

  • Philharmonic was named Orchestra of the Year by classical music magazine Gramophone, and West Kowloon performance venue for Chinese opera was launched
  • Year will be remembered for cancellations due to turmoil of street protests, none bigger than the month-long run of musical Matilda, whose promoter went bust
Performing arts in Hong Kong
Kevin Kwong
Kevin Kwong
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Seven months of anti-government protests unsurprisingly cast a pall over the city’s performing arts scene, which suffered a string of cancellations because of the turmoil.

On a brighter note, this year saw the opening of the first major venue in the much-delayed West Kowloon Cultural District, the Xiqu Centre for Chinese opera. And the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra ended 2019 on a high note, being named Orchestra of the Year by Gramophone magazine – the first in Asia to win the title. The Phil’s Dutch music director, Jaap van Zweden, was awarded the Concertgebouw Prize 2020 for his contribution to the profile of the concert house in Amsterdam.

The biggest casualty of the protests has been presenter Lunchbox Theatrical Productions. Its musical production Matilda, scheduled to run for a month from September 20, was cancelled.

“I realise this will come as a great disappointment to those who have bought tickets, and we very much hope to bring this superb show to Hong Kong next year,” said James Cundall, the company’s chief executive, in a statement. That now seems unlikely. Lunchbox has gone into administration, the BBC reported in November, as its other business venture in the UK, Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre, also went bust.

A scene from the musical Matilda, whose month-long run in Hong Kong was cancelled. The promoter later went into administration. Photo: courtesy of Facebook

It took weeks for Matilda ticket holders to get their money back, with the show’s venue, the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, understood to have shouldered a chunk of the loss.

Other productions postponed or cancelled include Carmen by More than Musical, some of Hong Kong Ballet’s Swan Lake performances in October, the annual music and arts festival Clockenflap in November and, more recently, the second of two concerts by jazz composer and pianist Hiromi and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.
Hong Kong Ballet dancers perform Swan Lake. Some performances were cancelled because of the protests in the city.

Because of the unrest, artists from China have not been able to travel to the city to perform. The Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, for instance, had to change the opening concert of its 43rd season at the last minute when the Shaanxi Broadcasting Chinese Orchestra couldn’t perform in it.

Meanwhile the Hong Kong Arts Festival, which begins in February, had to cancel a production of Teahouse by the Sichuan People’s Art Theatre, although apparently not because of the protests.

While the opening of the Xiqu Centre was good news for Chinese opera lovers and for the conservation of Hong Kong’s intangible heritage, the venue was criticised for being too expensive to hire, for having far fewer seats than originally advertised, and for shortcomings in its proprietary ticketing system.
Yau Sing-po played the arch villain in The Reincarnation of Red Plum, accompanied by Alan Tam Wing-Run, as his nephew, in the opening performance at the Xiqu Centre. Photo: Courtesy of West Kowloon Cultural District Authority

In July, the construction site of the Lyric Theatre complex, another West Kowloon cultural venue, was flooded and a sinkhole 25 metres in diameter opened. A report presented to the Legislative Council in November said all key issues at the site “have now been addressed”, but further delays in its construction look inevitable.

Several key executives left the West Kowloon project including Louis Yu Kwok-lit, executive director in charge of performance arts. It was announced last month that Paul Tam Siu-man, currently executive director of the Hong Kong Ballet, will succeed Yu.

At the City Contemporary Dance Company, founder Willy Tsao Sing-yuen will step down as the company’s artistic director on Tuesday, but stay on as an adviser. Dominic Wong Dick-man will be acting artistic director until Tsao’s successor is identified.

A sinkhole developed on a construction site at the West Kowloon Cultural District after a cofferdam wall suffered a partial collapse and seawater flooded in. Photo: Winson Wong
Benedikt Fohr, former head of the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, succeeded Michael MacLeod as chief executive of the Hong Kong Philharmonic in April. Timothy Tsukamoto, former general manager of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, took over as its director of artistic planning, replacing Lam Fung, who was abruptly dismissed in June.
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